redefining family...

this pic was the "features" page of the article

It's kinda fun to be little local celebrities for the day.  

This month's issue of our local magazine, Lynchburg Living, ran an article about adoption called "Redefining Family" and we were given the opportunity alongside two other families to be featured in the magazine!

Here's the link to see the article with the pictures.  (We're on page 11, and pages 48-55.)

I was NOT so pleased with what goofballs Marc and I look like in this picture!
Oh well, at least Jameson looks great!  You can't win 'em all...

 Even though the writer apologized to me for not having more space to write more of our story, Marc and I were pleased with how much she WAS able to capture in such a small space.

The writer herself has fostered and adopted many children, and it was an honor to connect with her! 

This awesome pic was the cover page to the article- LOVE!

Now, I don't know if anybody actually READS the magazine, but it's all over town, so it at least feels like our little 5 minutes of fame, ha!  

 I hope that some who do read the article or see our family's pictures might be inspired themselves to consider adoption for their family.

If my kids' smiles could somehow convince someone to take that move forward towards adoption, I'd be overjoyed.  

(As the article mentions, 1 in 3 families discusses adopting, but only 2% of families actually adopt.)

Caroline's diagnosis of alopecia is explained in the article as well, and I feel like it'd be a HUGE victory even if a hand-full of people walked away from that article with a new awareness of alopecia.

Oh, if only more people knew about alopecia, what an easier life we would lead...

I hope that somehow, in some small way, seeing the love within our family might help build bridges between races on both sides.  Families don't have to match to be family.  I love that the writer included me saying we're not a white family with a black son, but that we're collectively a black and white family now.

My greatest hope as people look at our family and read our story is that they'll see a God who is always at work in our lives, through our suffering and not just in spite of it.  He's governing His creatures and writing all of our stories.

I hope they'll see a Father who adopts ALL of his children, who Himself has a multi-racial family with children from every land and every tribe.

It's my hope that the story He has written in my little family, even as unplanned as it orginally seemed, will somehow lead others to trust in His tender goodness, grace, and timing.

To Him be all the glory.